News

News

The digital revolution will come to schools. TIMATE and Euvic IT are launching a system that will improve the safety of students and teachers

01-06-2020

Automatic roll call, digital identifiers, a communication platform, electronic grade records and the student protection SOS button. These are the new functions of the TIMATE systems which has been adjusted to school needs. The solution designed by TIMATE and Euvic IT will help the education sector in the digital transformation and will support schools in the combat against coronavirus.

Polish schools are now entering the new reality of digital transformation. In March 2019 in Tarnów, the representatives of NASK (Research and Academic Computer Network) and SMWI (Cities Online Association) signed a declaration for digital education development in the face of the 21st-century challenges. The technological turn in education is all the more important in a situation when schools have to adapt to new teaching conditions resulting from the coronavirus pandemics.

At the beginning of the pandemic, TIMATE extended its personnel management and safety system by adding functions which support the threat prevention and containment. It soon became clear that these functions as well as the entire system can also be used in schools.

TIMATE was initially designed as a specifically industrial system. However, the market itself has recognized the much wider potential of this solution. We received an inquiry from Portugal: they asked if we could adjust our system to school needs. We could and we did, says Sebastian Młodziński, TIMATE’s CEO. Be it a company or an educational facility, the system is programmed to protect safety and this is a management priority, especially in these difficult times of COVID-19.

The solution for schools provides such functions as digital identifiers of teachers and students, school agendas, student grade records and library cards. It also protects student safety through the SOS button which can be used to call for help in the case of accidents, near-miss situations or bullying. The system also supports evacuation and detects falls and it reminds of the necessity to disinfect hands.

The return to schools after the summer vacation will be a challenge. Both teachers and students will probably have to get accustomed to totally new conditions. A sanitary regime can reasonably be expected. Our system supports adherence to such a regime. The smart card allows to measure the card holder’s temperature remotely and to monitor larger gatherings as well as to identify the people with whom an infected person has interacted, says Sebastian Młodziński.

Importantly, the card does not collect biometric data of teachers and students. Outside the school premises, the card does not display the user’s photo and name. In contrast to smartphones, the card contains no games, social media functions or other applications that would distract students, but it allows to contact them and determine their location.

Students often say they need to have their phones on them so that their parents know where they are and if they are OK. Our system can ensure that as well and more. It protects from distraction and emits several hundred times less radiation than a cellphone, adds Sebastian Młodziński, TIMATE.

To adapt the system to school needs, TIMATE collaborated with Euvic IT, a company with many years of experience in complex IT projects.

We saw the potential of the TIMATE solution right away. On a daily basis, we help our customers understand the critical importance of IT processes and improve their performance. We know what enterprises and institutions need in terms of IT, so we are able to offer tailor-made solutions based on the analysis of individual needs, says Bartłomiej Łatka, Sales Director at Euvic IT. When it comes to TIMATE, we appreciated the fact that the solution is multilingual, safe and easy to use and manage. These aspects are particularly important for customers from the sector of education.

The solution by TIMATE can be integrated with other tools already used in schools, e.g. Librus or Vulcan, and extended with new functions such as logging for early primary school grades.

The system is now available for implementations.

How can TIMATE support your business during the COVID-19 epidemic?

06-04-2020

Occupational health and safety are absolutely crucial during the coronavirus epidemic. TIMATE is a system which can support these aspects of business operations. Here is how TIMATE enhances employee protection during and after the epidemic:

CONTACTLESS OPERATION:

The card is contactless, so it prevents the spread of the virus.

The card extends the scope of contactless operation of the company infrastructure, e.g. by allowing to open/disable turnstiles on which the virus can stay active for 2 or 3 days.

ACTIVE ASSISTANCE IN KEEPING THE SAFE DISTANCE BETWEEN EMPLOYEES:

The cards monitor distances between employees and make a beep when they come to close to one another. The preprogrammed distance is 2 metres. The beep can be turned off when employees need to meet for legitimate reasons. The information about breaking the distance rules is forwarded to the system. The operator can react quickly.

Messages can be sent to inform when an employee can enter/leave (for a break, to/from work, to/from a zone) in order to minimize the risk of too many people meeting at the entrance or the cloakroom. For instance, the card can display the following message: “Leave now through door A.”

STATISTICS PREVENTING EMPLOYEES FROM GATHERING:

The employee location system provides ongoing monitoring of the number of people in particular zones and sends an alert to the operator if there are too many people. Reports on the use of the zones make it possible to plan the location of employees in keeping with the safe distance rules.

QUARANTINE:

Reports on the last 7/14 days on employees who could come into contact with a person infected or suspected of being infected with COVID-19. The report (based on the recorded working time, schedules and employee locations) is generated on request and allows to identify the persons which should be quarantined.

OHS MESSAGES:

The reminder to wash hands when coming to work, during work and after finishing work.

Monitoring of the location of employees to check if they go to the area designated for washing hands.

Monitoring of the cleaning frequency with regard to toilets. Cloakrooms and other places which require top standards of hygiene.

THE SOS BUTTON:

It can be used to report any violations of the OHS rules, e.g. when there are too many employees at one place or masks are not being worn, or to report any situations of employees feeling ill.

EMPLOYMENT OPTIMIZATION:

Employment optimization on the basis of the indicators and analysis of the working time, tasks and movement.

EFFECTIVE REMOTE WORK:

It is possible to exercise strict supervision over employees who work remotely. Central station can be placed next to the employee’s computer and it will detect when the employee leaves the work place.

Task delegation for remote work and task performance assessment and accountability.

Optionally, the card can be equipped with a contactless infrared temperature sensor similar to the ordinary electronic thermometers. This extra sensor is located on the bottom section of the C2 card and the silicon case protects it from contamination.

In the situation of the present pandemic, the temperature check is performed by the employee himself/herself and upon the employee’s consent.

There is no need to wait in long queues and potential contact with other people can be avoided. Employees can check their body temperature at any time during the day.

The card can also display a reminder to check the temperature.

In extreme situations of epidemic threat, the temperature check results can be immediately sent to the system on the employer’s demand. This way it will be possible to immediately isolate people with increased temperature.

The integrated sensor can also be used outside work when it functions as an ordinary thermometer and no medical data are sent to the system.

We invite you to test TIMATE and check our proof-of-concept implementations. Such implementations allow to test TIMATE on a smaller scale.

Effective remote work? There’s a tool which can make this happen!

19-03-2020

The growing number of coronavirus infections makes more companies switch to remote work. Today, many people in Poland are working from home to minimize the spread of COVID-19. This is very important. But can the employer actually monitor the employees who perform their tasks outside the office? Definitely! TIMATE offers a solution which enables remote work monitoring.

The recommendations of physicians and government officials are clear: if you can, stay home as long as you can. What about work? Pursuant to Art. 3 of the Act of 2 March 2020 on specific solutions for preventing, counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and related emergency situations, an employer can instruct the employees to switch to remote work.

This new regulations provides entrepreneurs with a wide spectrum of options regarding decisions about who works outside the company premises and for how long. Employers can instruct employees to work from home any number of times, they can call employees back to the company, they can return to the remote work mode again and they can also reduce or prolong the remote work period. This will be possible until 4 September 2020 when the effective period of the Act (180 days) will expire.

Can the employer somehow monitor the employees who do their work remotely? This particular form of collaboration must be based on mutual trust and the responsibility of the employee. There are numerous temptations at home and we often do the job less effectively when no one is watching over our shoulder. Is there any way that the employer can optimize the company operations during the coronavirus threat? How to avoid losses for the company and reduced performance by employees in the remote work mode of operation?

A tool assisting in the remote work management

The Polish company TIMATE has a tool for the remote work management. How does it function?

This tool is a smart card which collects information about the employer’s motion. It is fully reliable when it comes to analysing the use of the working time, employee safety, information about the employee location, task delegation and – most importantly in this particular case –recording the progress of remote work. The card can be used to confirm task performance when employees are on the company premises and when they go on a business trip or work from home, says Sebastian Młodziński, TIMATE’s CEO.

How is this done? The employee uses the task list on the smartphone and chooses the next task to perform. By placing the card against the phone and using the NFC technology, the employee confirms the start and the completion of the task.

TIMATE records the time devoted to the task on condition that the employee has the card on. When the card is placed against the phone, the location is recorded, i.e. the place where the remote work is performed, based on GPS, explains Sebastian Młodziński.

Photo: TIMATE card

The card also has the employee’s task schedule preloaded, so if it detects that the employee is not at work on a given day, it will ask for reasons of this absence. The card owner can choose one of the options on the screen (remote work, business trip, sick leave) or any other option predefined in the system.

Photo: TIMATE card reading – remote work with geolocation

Data from the cards of employees who are not on the company premises are recorded and the employer can access them instantly. This allows for monitoring attendance and reasons for absence on a regular basis.

If not remote work, then what? How to ensure the employee safety to the maximum?

Unfortunately, working from home is not always an option. Even during the pandemic, some people simply have to be there on the company premises due to the nature of their duties. How to make sure they are 100% safe? Again, TIMATE can be of assistance.

When the location function is on, the system can point to the location of the card holder (in a room or in a section of the building). When there is a confirmed case of the COVID-2019 infection in the company, the employer uses TIMATE to easily determine which employees had contact with the infected person and who needs to be quarantined, explains Sebastian Młodziński, CEO at TIMATE.

The cards also have the SOS button which ensures immediate notification about threats. You see someone is feeling ill? You press the SOS button on your card. You are feeling unwell yourself? You get help with one button.

Photo: TIMATE card’s SOS function

When the temporary quarantine is necessary in the company, the system will enable ongoing verification of the movements of the quarantined persons. Each employee who has the card is visible in the system, so managers can see and monitor the locations of all employees. In consequence, they can react immediately if the quarantine rules are not followed.

The pandemic is resulting in many changes for both employers and employees. They need to adapt to the new situation and try to cope with it effectively. Remote work can become a permanent mode of collaboration in Polish enterprises. Innovations which are available on the market can ensure that remote work will be as effective as the work performed on the company premises.

TIMATE nominated for the Polish Award of Intelligent Development 2020

25-02-2020

TIMATE has been nominated for the prestigious award granted by the Centre of Intelligent Development. Each year the winners of the awards include investors, scientists, visionaries and organizations which contribute to the sustainable growth of the society and economy and which make the living standards better.

Our company has been nominated in the category “Technologies of the Future” for the smart card which enables automatic recording of time and attendance at work, access control as well as monitoring of employee safety and performance.

– We are very glad that our idea and our work in creating the TIMATE system have been appreciated. Considering that this award is highly valued both in business and in science, the nomination itself is already a mark of distinction and it also shows that the Polish market is now ready for cutting-edge innovative devices which will change and optimize processes in enterprises, says Sebastian Młodziński, CEO at TIMATE. .

The awards are granted in several categories, .e.g. the scientist of the future, the visionary CEO, innovative technologies of the future, the inspiring woman leading an organization or the local government supporting residents and investors. This distinction is an expression of respect for projects and concepts, plans of their development and methods of promotion.

The Awards of Intelligent Development are presented and received each year at the special ceremony during the Intelligent Development Forum. The 5th edition of this event will be held in November.

Digitalization cannot be stopped. A short report from the Digital Workplace conference.

07-02-2020

Enterprises want to get digitalized. They are welcoming new, outside-the-box technologies such as TIMATE which facilitate communication, streamline key business processes, support data usage and enable a fuller control over employees – that is how the Digital Workplace conference is summed up by our CEO, Sebastian Młodziński.

This event dedicated to experts in communication, digitalization of internal processes and HR operations was held on 30–31 January in Warsaw. One of the speakers was Sebastian Młodziński, TIMATE’s CEO, whose presentations was titled “IoT = Internet of Things / Interpretation of Time”.

Enterprises are now ready for the digitalization of workplaces. This transformation can boost the competitive edge and improve the comfort of work. It also supports automation of key processes and enhances the control, which is directly translated into better effectiveness. That is whymy presentation focused on the benefits related to the implementation of our system. I pointed out the multiple problems that TIMATE can solve. I accentuated the huge amount of data it can collect and analyse. Companies gather lots of information, but they lack the mechanism that would be able to analyse this information. TIMATE provides a ready-made environment and generates analysed data, says Sebastian Młodziński.

The presentation by our CEO aroused a lot of interest among the participants who assessed it highly in the post-conference survey and admitted they were impressed by TIMATE in the backstage comments.

During the Digital Workplace event I had the opportunity to talk to representatives of several companies who had already heard about our system, but it is still an unknown and pretty exotic solution to the majority of businesses. That’s why I am really happy about the positive feedback from the conference participants. For some people TIMATE turned out to be a real eye-opener: they saw the new approach to time and attendance at work, including remote work, safety and task delegation. Why such a reaction? Because no one before has measured what employees actually do from clock-in to clock-out. Nearly a half of companies participating in the conference said they would want to test our system, says TIMATE’s CEO.

Digital Workplace gathered representatives of more than fifty companies who could attend presentations as well as share their experiences and observations and initiate new business relations. The conference has shown that the process of workplace digitalization is inevitable and enterprises are ready to implement technological innovations that enhance employee engagement.

TIMATE takes part in Digital Workplace

28-01-2020

How to improve employee commitment and generate positive experience with the use of digital tools – that is the leitmotif of this year’s Digital Workplace conference. This event gathers experts, practitioners and business people and it will be held on 30–31 January 2020 in Warsaw. Sebastian Młodziński, TIMATE’s CEO, is among the speakers.

His presentation (“IoT = Internet of Things / Interpretation of Time”) will focus on how IoT can monitor and verify the performance of tasks and duties at the workplace. Sebastian will show the potential of cutting-edge solutions and devices in the everyday operations of companies and factories as well as the benefits brought by a fair time and attendance system and employee behaviour analysis.

There’s too little being said about Polish inventions in the globally known and valued category of the Internet of Things (IoT). Meanwhile TIMATE, a time and attendance system, is a good example of how you can reconcile the needs of both employers and employees. Technology allows to see into the commitment and efficiency of employees as well as to implement optimizations which save money and improve the employee safety and the way that the working time is used, says Sebastian Młodziński, CEO at TIMATE.

Digital Workplace is an event dedicated to experts in communication and digitization of internal processes and HR operations. The speakers are practitioners who implement business solutions which support HR departments and enhance communication between employees in order to make them more committed and effective.

The conference participants will have the opportunity to share precious experience and observations regarding the state-of-the art solutions in the are of digital workplace. More information about the event: https://www.trioconferences.pl/digital-workplace/

Customers of I-Care Polska will enjoy the benefits of TIMATE. The companies have commenced strategic collaboration.

08-01-2020

TIMATE, the manufacturer of the automatic time and attendance system, and I-Care Polska, a global expert in the predictive approach to machinery park maintenance, have started collaborating in order to provide the TIMATE system to production enterprises. The first tests of the solution on the premises of I-Care’s customer will begin soon.

For several decades, I-Care has been operating in the industrial sector, optimising production processes and supporting maintenance departments in the most efficient use of machinery parks. Each day, the company collects and analyses big data in order to prevent failures and plan servicing, which allows to avoid downtime.

We use big data in our work on a daily basis, so the idea behind TIMATE is something we can definitely relate to. What is interesting to us in this solution is the detailed data analysis which supports planning and the effective use of human resources. We were also very impressed by the fully automated recording of time and attendance, says Łukasz Szumilas, CEO of I-Care Polska.

Under the contract signed by the companies, I-Care will recommend TIMATE to its customers, i.e. production enterprises where the employees work in machinery halls. From their perspective, the special benefit of TIMATE is the comprehensive combination of employee safety (OHS), time and attendance (HR) and work maintenance in terms of the efficient assignment of human resources.

When we designed and developed TIMATE, we made employee safety our priority. We know how difficult it is to monitor such aspects as the use of the required personal protective equipment by employees. When someone ignores the rule of wearing a helmet, it can lead to risks and hazards. The surveys by Statistics Poland show that in Q1 2019 as many as 60.5% of accidents at work were due to employee faults. TIMATE makes it a lot easier to protect personnel safety, says Sebastian Młodziński, CEO of TIMATE.

The system consists of sensors which analyse how people move around a specific area. The heart of TIMATE is the smart card based on the IoT technology. It notifies the employee about entering the hazard zone and the requirement to use personal protective equipment. It will also notify the manager when an accident occurs, providing the information about the whereabouts of the employee who needs help. If there is an evacuation, TIMATE allows to immediately check whether all employees are outside the hazard zone.

The smart card also supports remote work. It can contain a list of tasks and it will then monitor their performance and the time needed for their completion. As a result, the employer can easily check if an employee who works outside the company premises actually performs the assigned tasks.

I-Care has already started talks with companies that would consider the implementation of TIMATE.

We have received many responses. One of our customers will soon begin testing the system, says Łukasz Szumilas, I-Care Polska.

TIMATE has started commercializing its ground-breaking IoT technology for businesses

22-08-2019

When we launched pilot testing two years ago, we had no idea how businesses would react to our system for managing employees and their security. Today, after successfully completing the research, we are happy to start commercial implementations. We present an interview with Sebastian Młodziński, our new CEO, who tells about why he decided to invest in the company and what has been enhanced in our device.

The last two years have been really busy for TIMATE. Can you outline the company’s itinerary?

Sebastian Młodziński:

First of all, TIMATE carried out the pilot testing. In other words, we checked how our system would operate in practice. The testing was scheduled and performed thanks to the grant from the NCBR (the Polish National Centre for Research and Development). In May 2019, we opened a new chapter by setting up TIMATE Sp. z o.o. (limited liability company), we started building sales structures and right now we are beginning to commercialize our system.

Have all the research implementations been completed?

S.M.:

All goes according to plan. We completed most of the pilot implementations, while some are still in progress. The projects were closely related to R&D. The implementations carried out as part of the research are now producing the expected results and get transformed into commercial goals.

Many companies came over to engage in pilot implementations. In your opinion, which one was the most interesting project?

S.M.:

True, several dozens companies from different sectors were interested, e.g. automotive businesses, logistics operators and manufacturers. We selected about a dozen. We wanted the implementations to vary, so we chose enterprises with different infrastructures and different needs.

I guess that one of the more interesting and spectacular pilot projects, concluded with 100% success rate, was the one carried out at the Polish company Mazur, specializing in the production of swimming pools and spa equipment. It is an enterprise with huge experience in the market and well-recognized all around the world. It employs a great number of people and operates two cutting-edge production halls. In a word, the company provides ideal conditions for doing research on the TIMATE system.

Through pilot testing you wanted to find out what the entrepreneurs would think about your system. What have you changed on the basis of the user feedback?

S.M.:

At the moment, the system covers several basic areas and focuses on measuring the use of the working time, security, task delegation, remote work and monitoring of selected and designated zones. The entrepreneurs who tested TIMATE usually reported the need for such modules. That’s why we have checked and enhanced them. Right now, I can say without a flicker of doubt that they are ripe and ready for commercial implementations.

In addition, we have also developed a function for offline task performance which will come useful during business trips and remote work. Though it is outside the network area, the device can still record the employee’s activities. When reconnected to the network, collected data are transmitted to the system.

Sebastian, your TIMATE adventure started not so long ago. You were the first person who decided to invest in the company. How so?

S.M.:

It is not that I am a very recent addition to the company. The negotiations about my joining the team lasted for a year and it was still before the establishment of TIMATE Sp. z o.o. I had been observing the project for a long time and I really liked it, because the product itself is unique and revolutionary. And it is not just my opinion, major companies from all around the world agree on this. This is a system where both devices and software cooperate in order to measure and count what has seemed impossible to count until now.

Yes, the feedback about the system that you have received from businesses is very positive. But TIMATE is not yet so widely recognized. It was first a start-up and you did invest in it at that point in time. Weren’t you afraid of the risk?

S.M.:

Let me tell you a story. My job at TIMATE is not only to manage the company, but also to get money from investors. I remember that when I was on my way to Warsaw to have the first investment meetings, I braced myself for at least a few days of hard work. I thought it would take that much time, but I needed only two hours. Two hours to raise the funds necessary for starting operational activities. This is the best proof of the great potential that TIMATE has. With start-ups there is always risk. You just have to compare how much you can lose with how much you can actually gain.

You have gained your investors, so that chapter is now closed. Right now TIMATE is on the lookout for distribution partners. Who will be your collaborators?

S.M.:

We will do the selling exclusively through a partner network. Our list of partners is now almost complete, we just need two more. We are at the stage of advanced negotiations with three candidates and the contract is ready for one of them. We are talking to leaders and they are not only Polish businesses.

Who is the target user of TIMATE?

S.M.:

Our first customers will be companies employing blue-collar workers, e.g. manufacturers with production halls and complex logistics. Obviously, our system can also be effectively used for office work, but the measurement of the working time use by office employees is perhaps less relevant than the performance measurement at a production plant, in a factory or in logistics. The need to streamline the processes related to manual workers is paramount.

We have also decided that TIMATE will not be available for sale to everyone. We’ve set a certain limit and we don’t want to cross it.

What is that limit?

S.M.:

The number of employees. We have agreed on a sales model which assumes that we can deliver our system to companies which employ at least 500 people. It is a conscious choice on our part, resulting from our capabilities, resources and a sort of optimization that we have carried out within our present network. It does not mean we close our doors for smaller enterprises once and for all. Right now it’s only reasonable to start with the big fish, but in the future our partners will also include small and medium companies as potential customers.

TIMATE is a new thing in the market. Does it help in your talks with partners and customers? Or to the contrary?

S.M.:

True, TIMATE is a pioneering innovation. New things always cause fear at a subconscious level, because they imply new knowledge that needs to be gained and changes to the status quo. But for us it is a pleasant surprise that so many businesses have been interested in our device. TIMATE is a system that has a great potential and entrepreneurs can see its benefits very clearly.

What are your priorities in the nearest future?

S.M.:

Right now it is crucial for TIMATE to create a solid partner network and ensure effective distribution of our products. The priority is to get through the commercialization smoothly and gain efficient partners in Poland and, later on, also in other countries. For now, we have completed two commercial implementations, one of them on an impressively large scale.

TIMATE was developed under the project carried out by TENVIRK Sp. z o.o. and co-financed by European Funds:

“Smart ID card for effortless time and attendance, access control and monitoring of safety and work efficiency”.

Project financing from the EU: PLN 2 334 107.82
Total cost of project implementation : PLN 3 461 878.47
Intermediate Body: National Center for Research and Development
Contract Number: POIR.01.01.01-00-0227 / 15-00
Project implementation period: from December 1, 2015 to April 1, 2019
The project is realized within the Activity: 1.1 “R & D projects of enterprises”,
Sub-activity 1.1.1 “Industrial research and development works realized by companies
“ POIR in 2015 (Contest 1 / 1.1.1 / 2015)

The names “TIMATE” and “TENVIRK” are registered trademarks. Presented names of companies and products, not being products of TENVIRK Sp. z o.o. are registered trademarks of their respective owners. They were used for information purposes only. Materials published on the website can not be copied and distributed. The presented materials don’t constitute a commercial offer in accordance with the Commercial Law or the Civil Code. Due to continuous product development, information published on the site is indicative and subject to change without notice.